A story with soup
by YourAverageObsessiveGirl
Summary: Sorry for the stupid title, I'm a little hyper. Spoilers! after the Acid Tokyo arc thing.When Fai get's hurt and sick nightmares of Ashura begin to haunt him. How will everyone else handle this? KuroXFai, SyaXSak, if you squint.
1. Chapter 1

HA! My first fanfic! In your face logs! I am aware of the plot points I'm disreagarding. Anywhom, I hope you enjoy this.

P.S It'll get funnier, and there'll be more KuroXFai adn SyaXSak fluffy stuff..i hope.

Now read, or the were-bunnies will attack you o.O

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Chapter 1 

"Kid, you stay here and watch the princess" Kurogane said. The young brunette, Syaoran, nodded. "Kuro-poo! Hurry up; I'd prefer if they didn't get to close." The blonde mage called cheerfully. Kurogane sighed, it was bad enough that there was an army coming at them, but being stuck with a mage that was seemingly unfazed by the seriousness of this all, and, to top it off, the ground was snow coated and freezing. "Fine, I'm coming, and my name is not _Kuro-poo." _Kurogane walked up to stand by Fai. He glanced at the young mage, his one eye was all serious-ness, but somehow that smile wouldn't go away. It was Kurogane's pet peeve at the moment. "Ready?" Fai asked. "When am I not?" Kurogane replied. "Good luck Fai! Good luck Kuro-tin" Mokona, quite possibly Kurogane's worst nightmare called out. Kurogane gave an angry snort and headed out of the cave entrance, with Fai shortly behind.

It didn't take them long to reach the army, which was made of around one-hundred people. They fought as a team, like they always did; Fai would either attack or dodge an attack leaving an opening for Kurogane, it wasn't a complex strategy and it almost always worked. "I am gonna kill that little meat bun when I get back" Kurogane fumed, taking out his anger at a solider standing in front of them. "I guess I'll have to stay alive then too" The mage responded, kicking yet another solider in the gut. "Huh? Why is that?" Kurogane asked. "If you kill him, there goes our ticket out of here." Kurogane sighed; he knew Fai was right. Fai cast a quick glance at him before saying, "Let's focus on making it out of here alive, then we can debate on the importance of Mokona." "Sounds like a deal" Kurogane growled. Then he smiled, at this rate, they would be out of here in two hours or less.

The army's general groaned; it looked like child's play to those two men. The general was perched on a tree branch nearby, watching for a weak point, and then he spotted one. "They fight together" he explained to the person who was in charge of the second line up of soldiers. "The blond one doesn't seem like he'll hold up well in large numbers alone, so they fight together, try separating them." The leader nodded, "Will do."

As the second group advanced, Kurogane and Fai had a moment to catch their breath. "You alright Kuro-rin?" Fai asked. "I should ask the same of you, mage" Kurogane said. "I'll take that as a yes" Fai chuckled.

Kurogane's grip tightened on his sword, "Let's get this done fast." Fai nodded in agreement, "Exactly what I was thinking." And with that, the battle began yet again. The general's plan quickly took action, one second Fai was turned the opposite way trying to avoid being stabbed, and then he was being shoved farther away from Kurogane by a mob of soldiers. Kurogane turned around expecting to see Fai standing next to grinning like the annoying idiot he was, but instead more soldiers.

_Crap_, he thought, _Fai could handle one opponent, but an army? No way._ "Oi! Mage!" Kurogane yelled, slicing several more soldiers in the process. He saw Fai's blonde head pop out above the crowd. "Can you handle them yourself?" Kurogane yelled. "Yeah, I'll be fine!" Fai's voice hollered back. He scoffed, "Like I'll believe him." Kurogane began slicing his way towards Fai. It took him longer than expected to reach him, but, at least the mage hadn't gotten himself killed. "I said I'd be fi-" Fai began to say, before the flat of a sword hit him straight in the gut and sent him flying straight into a tree. He was out cold, the force of the impact had knocked some snow off of higher branches so now Fai's crumpled form was almost completely buried in snow. As the other soldiers moved in for the kill, Kurogane quickly tried to hack and slash his way through. "Geez" he found himself muttering "I save this guy's ass, and right away, I'm saving it again."

By the time he'd made it, some one was about to stab Fai with what looked like a broadsword. Kurogane reacted quickly and body-checked the guy over. Another soldier hit his artificial arm with his sword to prevent him from killing anyone, but as he hit the arm, Kurogane's grip on his sword loosened, so it fell. Fell and stabbed Fai in the ribs. Kurogane pulled it out; trying to ignore the horrible shudder Fai gave as he did. He picked Fai up and slung him over his back. The man's clothes where wet fom the snow, great, that man was annoying normally; with a cold it'd be terrible. "Whatcha gonna do know" A little voice asked in his head. That was the problem he didn't know. "Kuro-pii! We're ready to go!" A high pitched called, Kurogane knew who it was instantly. "Took ya long enough" he yelled back. A with a swoosh, they were gone.

They landed in a field, relaxing, for once. "What happened?" Sakura gasped when she saw Fai. Kurogane shrugged, tearing of a piece of his cloak to use as a makeshift bandage for Fai, "We got separated." "Will he be alright" Syaoran asked. There, Syaoran had been the one to ask the question every else was afraid to ask. Kurogane shook his head, his way of saying: "Who knows?" "Kid" Kurogane said, "Can you help me get his shirt off?" Syaoran nodded, and start removing the shirt. "His skin is really cold" Syaoran commented. Kurogane nodded, "The one time he decides not to wear his coat." Once the wound was fully visible he stopped, mainly to go comfort Sakura, who looked extremely pale. Kurogane quickly tied the cloth around the wound. He rolled the shirt back down and found his coat. Sakura and Syaoran both had to help getting it on. "All right, I'm not sure how long he'll last, so we need to leave now" Kurogane said, slinging Fai over his back again. "I see smoke coming from that way" Sakura said, nodding northwest. Kurogane nodded, "Great, we'll head that way." "Shouldn't we be avoiding smoke?" Syaoran said. "Normally yes we would, but right now, smoke means that people will be around there, and people may mean help. Honestly, I think with the current situation, we should take that risk." Mokona nodded, "He's right, he's right!" And that settled that, so they headed towards the smoke.

Kurogane sighed, Fai was lightweight but after carrying him a while, it starts to hurt. And Fai's breathe was getting a little raspy, he was also sneezing and shivering, he _was_ more annoying when he was sick. Fai groaned loudly, everyone halted hoping he'd wake up. Kurogane was more hoping that he'd be able to walk, and also Kurogane was a little impatient, Fai still hadn't drank today, and if he didn't he'd most likely get worse. Mokona suddenly began flying around like an idiot.

"What's your problem?" Kurogane snapped after Mokona nearly hit them in the head. "There's a house up ahead!" Mokona cried excitedly. Everyone picked up the pace and their hope grew. After a bit a sign became noticeable, a sign that read: Inn. Everyone broke into a run, Kurogane was a bit behind though, it's hard to run fast and not drop someone. Sakura made it to the door first, with Syaoran only a few steps behind. Sakura knocked on the door just as Kurogane ran up, Mokona perched annoyingly on his shoulder. The door opened. "We need rooms please" Sakura said sweetly. She nodded "Of course, but we only have two spare rooms." "That'll be fine" Kurogane said gruffly. The women nodded. "I'm guessing that the two youngsters will be sharing a room."

Kurogane nodded, "Yeah." It wasn't that he liked sharing a room, but Syaoran preferred to be closer to Sakura in case something happened, so he had to share a room with him. The innkeeper showed them to their rooms and called in a doctor to check on Fai. Kurogane looked around his room; Fai had gotten the big fluffy nice bed while Kurogane had gotten a cot near the floor.

"Oh well" he muttered, "It's better than just one bed." There was a knock at the door. "Come in" Kurogane called. In walked a middle-aged man with square glasses and a bag, followed by Syaoran and Sakura; both of which looked extremely worried. "I'm Cameron" the doctor said. "My name's Kurogane" Kurogane grunted. The doctor began examine the wound and taking his temperature. While all this was going on, Sakura was holding Mokona tightly; Syaoran sat next to her, a hand on her shoulder. Kurogane frowned, Fai was getting paler, if he didn't wake up soon……Kurogane shook those thoughts out of his head, it's not helping. "How is he?" Kurogane asked, he had been meaning to shove the worry out of his voice, but, judging by the way the kids were looking at him, he hadn't.

"Well," The doctor began, "He's got a fever of 105, and his wounds fairly deep" Kurogane cringed at that part "But, if you guys take proper care of him, he should be fine." Kurogane frowned at the words: '_Should be'_, was that supposed to be reassuring. The doctor left some pills on the table by the bed. "Syaoran, can you take Sakura outside for a minute, you know why" Kurogane asked. Syaoran nodded, grabbed Sakura's wrist and walked her outside the door. It gently closed shut. He pulled out a small dagger from his belt and swiftly cut his arm. He sat on the edge of the bed, supported Fai's in the crook of his other arm and gently shook him awake. "Fai?" Kurogane asked as he opened his eyes.

"Kurogane, wher- where am I?" Fai asked groggily. _He called me Kurogane? He must really be sick_, he thought. "Drink" Kurogane commanded, placing his bleeding arm in front of Fai's mouth. Fai shook his head weakly. "Drink" Kurogane said, making his tone less commanding. Reluctantly, Fai agreed, placed his lips against the wound, and began to drink. "You're in an Inn" Kurogane explained slowly, "You passed out during that last fight; someone shoved you into a tree. I barely managed to get to you in time, some guy was about to kill you. Then, Mokona came, I guess they found the feather…I never asked. Anyway, so we woke up in a field and Mokona found this Inn. And well, here we are." Fai pushed away his arm and sneezed. Kurogane looked at his face and sighed with relief, it had more color in it, he was still pale, but he looked a bit better. "What was that relieved look for all of a sudden Kurogane?" Fai asked. "Sakura was worried because you were so pale" Kurogane answered, careful not to use the word I in that sentence. "_I _was worried because you haven't called me one of your stupid nicknames since you woke up." Fai grinned weakly, "Do you want me too?" Kurogane gently let Fai's head fall back on the pillow. "No" Kurogane said, "I much prefer Kurogane."

"Alright then, Kuro-tan" Fai said.

"The kids want to see you" Kurogane said, wrapping up his wound with some of the gauze left over from Fai's bandaging. Kurogane wasn't sure when he had started referring to them as the kids; it was probably around the time when Fai had started calling him a father. Kurogane internally slapped himself; this is what you get for listening to Fai. Kurogane stood up and walked out the door. "He's awake" Kurogane said, "I'm going to go look around." Sakura nodded and practically ran into the room, Syaoran, as always, was a few stapes behind. Kurogane sighed, alright, now to find out about the currency of this place.

He walked down the front desk. "How much will the stay here cost?" Kurogane asked. "No worries" a voice said from behind Kurogane, "I'll pay." Kurogane turned around, it was the doctor. Cody, or something that started with a C, Kurogane couldn't remember. "Thanks" Kurogane said gruffly. "Oh no problem, but I would like to speak with you for a minute" he said. Kurogane nodded and followed the doctor to a small sitting room by the front desk. "What'd you want to talk to me about?" Kurogane asked sitting down on a wooden chair. "I want to talk about what happened to your friend." In truth, Kurogane wasn't surprised. He had seen a question like this coming at some point. "We got into a fight earlier and we got separated" Kurogane said, offering the shortest explanation that he could. "What's so bad about getting separated?" the doctor asked. "Fai doesn't fight well against large numbers alone" Kurogane replied. "What happened after?" He asked. Damn, this man was pushy. "By the time I made it to him, he was already injured and almost completely buried in snow" Kurogane lied. "Alright then" the doctor said.

"But, I was wondering if you and your friends would like a ride into the village nearby."

Kurogane shrugged, "Sure, why not." Kurogane stood up, "Now, I should get food for my companions." With that, Kurogane left and headed to the kitchen. Shortly after he found himself walking up the stairs to their rooms, balancing five bowls of soup like some sort of waiter. He had grabbed a bowl for Fai even though he knew perfectly well that Fai didn't need to eat, he was either going to force Fai to eat or give it to Mokona; chances are he'd have room for extra's. "I feel like a friggin' waiter" he grumbled as he shoved opened his door with his foot. "You brought food! Yay for Kuro-wan-wan" Mokona's cried out. Kurogane shoved the urge to throw a bowl of soup at him and handed out the soup. He placed a bowl in Fai's lap then sat in a chair and began eating some himself. "I don't need to eat" Fai protested. "You're eating" Kurogane said forcefully. Fai was about to protest when Kurogane gave him a look that said: You're eating, no buts. Fai sighed and tried some. "So how's the feather hunt going" Fai asked between spoonfuls. The group was silent.

"We never looked" Syaoran said quietly. Kurogane had chosen to avoid being a part of this conversation by reading the prescriptions left for Fai. "Don't let me hold you back" Fai said, "Mokona, do you sense any feather's?" Kurogane continued reading. _Hmm…'take one in the morning and one in the evening', wow, this guy sure gets to the point quickly. _"Yes, two feathers" Mokona replied excitedly.

'_The pills in the container are mild pain-killers and a fever reducing. So if your friend is acting a little, well, loopy, that's why.' Crap, Fai was bad enough as it is. _

"Which way is it?" Sakura asked. Mokona bobbed up in down for a few moments. "That way!" Mokona said cheerfully, flying to the west side of the room. Kurogane looked up suddenly from the note, "The doctor guy said he'd give us a ride to the nearest town." "Which way is it?" Syaoran asked. "The hell should I know?" Kurogane muttered. Syaoran sighed, "I'll figure it out." Kurogane nodded in thanks, then suddenly noticed that Fai had even said anything the past little while, he glanced at him, and too his surprise; Fai was actually eating, he didn't look like he wanted to, but he was anyway. Kurogane looked at the pills next to the bed. "Mage, here, you're supposed to take one" Kurogane grunted. Fai nodded slowly, and then coughed, and then sneezed…that went on for a bit, just irking Kurogane more and more. Eventually he stopped. "Sorry" he said. "No need to apologize" Sakura said kindly. Fai grinned weakly and swallowed the pill, choked on the pill, then successfully managed to swallow it. "Idiot" Kurogane muttered, "Can't even swallow a pill" Kurogane muttered something about having a bath and walked into the bathroom. "We should let Fai get some rest Sakura" Syaoran said after a few moments of awkward silence. "Mokona wants to come too" Mokona said, following the teenagers out the door. Which left Fai alone, so, for lack of Kurogane to pester, he laid down and let the sound of running bathwater lull him to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

YAY! Second Chapter. I know it's not exicting, but thats what I get for staying up and waiting till I was really hyper to write. Anywho, ENJOY!

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Chapter 2 

Kurogane walked out of the bathroom wearing a pair of black pants he had kept from Outo country and a towel draped over his shoulders. He glanced at the mage who was now asleep, not peacefully, but asleep.

Fai's face was flushed from the fever; he was shivering, and muttering something about Ashura.

Kurogane wouldn't admit it aloud (Because we all know he's too _manly_ to do that), but he was worried for the blond wizard. As irritating as he was sometimes, he was Kurogane's friend. So when Fai began talking louder and in more of a panic it was all Kurogane could do not to run over to his friend and make sure he was alright. Instead he walked into the bathroom yet again, wet a cloth with cold water and placed it on Fai's forehead.

"Kurogane" Fai muttered in his sleep, "Kurogane, speak to me!" Fai arm suddenly shot out and grabbed Kurogane's tightly. Kurogane winced, ouch; he had a tight grip for someone with such slender fingers. "Mage?" he asked, gently trying to pull his arm away. "You can let go of me." Still nothing. Kurogane reached forward with his spare arm and shook Fai gently.

Still nothing. Kurogane began shaking him just a bit harder. "Hey! Mage!" He shouted quietly (Which is absolutely possible). Kurogane sat on the edge of the bed, facing Fai. "Wake up!" He said, flicking him in the forehead. He leaned over his face and slapped him. When Fai's golden eye opened groggily, Kurogane allowed a small sigh of relief to escape, but he told himself it was because Fai had finally let go of his arm. "You were talking in your sleep" Kurogane explained as his eye opened wider. Fai jumped up, the cloth on his head falling into his lap,

"Kuro-tan?" Kurogane sighed, "I'm right here you idiot." Fai turned his head to face him. "You're alive!" He said happily. "Well, I should hope so" Kurogane said, a little bit confused. "But" Fai said, a confused expression growing on his face, "I saw you get stabbed…and…and." Fai couldn't continue. Kurogane placed his large on Fai's small shoulder, "I was just a bad dream."

"Really?" Fai asked; the idea hadn't occurred to him.

Kurogane nodded. "Really." Fai gently placed his hand on his shoulder, over Kurogane's. Kurogane slowly pulled his hand away and touched his forehead. "You're head's still burning, get some sleep" he said.

Fai was happy to obey the ninja's request, for once. He lay back, and closed his eye; he was unable to shake this feeling that something wasn't right. Kurogane stayed by the wizard's side until he knew for sure he was sound asleep. Kurogane grabbed the cloth and placed it on his forehead again. He stood and walked across the hall into the kid's room. He didn't knock, he just walked in. Sakura was asleep; Mokona snuggled up in her arms. Syaoran was sitting, cross-legged, on his bed, reading a book.

"Is he alright?" Syaoran asked. Kurogane nodded, "Yeah, he's asleep." Syaoran nodded, "That's good." "Good read?" Kurogane asked, nodding at the book in Syaoran's hands. "I suppose, if you like world history" he replied calmly. "Then I'll pass" Kurogane said. He glanced at the clock on the kid's wall. 11:30.

"By the way, we are going to the village with Cameron, we're leaving at eight" Syaoran said. So that was the doctor's name.

"You should get some sleep kid." Kurogane said, sounding, yet again, like a father. Syaoran nodded. "Night kid" Kurogane said, flicking his hand up in the air as he left. He gently shut the door. Now what? The ninja was a little tired, but he didn't feel like going to bed, not yet.

After a few minutes of standing in the empty hallway, he decided to go get some fresh air. He used his ninja stealth so he wouldn't wake up the person sitting at the desk in the lobby. He was glad to be breathing air that smelled like grass and trees for once. He leaned against the wall next to the door and stared up at the sky. No matter where they went, it seemed, did they sky look any different.

Kurogane began to question why he was stargazing shortly after the Big Dipper for the tenth time. He sighed and walked back inside, this time not caring who he woke up. He just wanted some sleep. When he reached his room, he noticed that Fai and his blanket had gone missing. He was just about to start searching when he heard a loud belching noise form the bathroom. He walked up to the bathroom, and leaned against the doorway.

Fai was crouching in front of the toilet, his blanket draped around his shoulders. Kurogane winced as Fai began to throw up, by the looks of it, again.

"You alright" he asked, once the mage had stopped throwing up the contents of what looked like everything he'd eaten the past two days.

Fai looked up and put on a faux smile, "I'm fine." Kurogane saw through the smile instantly, it was hard not to, he was pale and shaking. Kurogane frowned. "Don't lie" he grunted.

"No, really, Kuro-pon! I'm fine" Fai protested. Kurogane came sat beside him. He gripped his arm.

"If you're not feeling well, don't lie, are you alright?" Kurogane asked. Fai's smile faded. "A little cold and shaky, I guess" Fai admitted. Kurogane let go of his arm, "There we go." Kurogane glanced at the toilet.

"Are you done?" he asked. Fai nodded weakly, "I think so." Kurogane flushed the toilet. He left the room for a moment, grabbed the blanket off of his little cot, brought it back and draped it over Fai's shoulders.

"But, Kuro-poo, won't you get cold?" Fai asked, looking concerned.

"I'll be fine, and besides, you need it more" Kurogane said, shrugging. "Kuro-rin you're so nice!" Fai gushed.

"Shut up" Kurogane grumbled. "Can you walk?" He asked, his tone softening a bit. "I dunno" Fai stood up slowly, leaning on the wall for support. He took a few slow steps, and then his knees buckled. Kurogane caught him just before he fell.

"Thanks" Fai said before standing up again. Kurogane put his arm around Fai's waist to support him; Fai nodded in thanks and started hobbling along to his bed, with Kurogane's help, of course. "G'night" Kurogane grumbled, once lying comfortably in his own little bed.

"Night, Kuro-wanwan" Fai said sleepily.

"It's Kurogane" he corrected before falling asleep.

Kurogane opened his eyes groggily; he felt oddly warm for someone who had no blanket, but then why was there a blanket covering him? He looked down and noticed Fai snuggled up against his chest, looking pale and sick, but peaceful. Kurogane groaned silently, of the days to not wear a shirt.

Kurogane was about to shove him straight of the bed, screw it if he was sick, when Fai snuggled a bit closer. Kurogane sighed and laid back. _I'll give him five minutes_, Kurogane thought. He closed his eyes and waited.

Yet another thing Kurogane would never say aloud, he had his pride at stake here, but he was somewhat enjoying it.

_No! Dammit_, a voice said in his head, _don't enjoy it, wake him up! Wake him up now! _Kurogane listened to the voice, because he suddenly thought of what Fai would say if he found out he had let him stay.

"Oi, mage, just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Kurogane said, shaking the sleeping magician violently.

"I had a nightmare, Kuro-pii" Fai mumbled, too tired to say he was fine and do that fake smile of his.

"Again?" Kurogane asked.

Fai nodded, "So I came and slept with you." Kurogane frowned.

"The nightmare was that bad, huh?"

"Yeah" Fai nodded, a worried look on his face.

"What happened?" Kurogane asked.

"Oh nothing to worry your pretty little head over" Fai said, putting his stupid smile on as he sat up.

Kurogane grunted as he got up, grabbed his shirt and pulled it on. Normally, Kurogane would've gotten mad that Fai had called his head pretty or pressed the nightmare matter further, but, it was seven in the morning, and Kurogane was _not_ a morning person. He grabbed Fai's medicine from the nightstand and threw it at his head before going to splash water on his face.

It was going to be a long day.

Fai sneezed loudly.

Kurogane popped his head through the door, "You okay?" He asked.

Fai nodded; "I'm fine" he sniffed. Kurogane shook his head and started filling the sink.

The sneezing repeated around a dozen or more times before the sink was full enough, annoying Kurogane to the extent that his jaw was clenched to keep from shouting at him. It wasn't like he was as irritated at Fai as he usually was, it was his fever that was bugging him. He cupped the water in his hands and threw it lightly against his face; it felt like a blanket had been ripped of his face. A sensation that wasn't exactly pleasant, but, none-the-less, at least Kurogane felt wide awake now.

He walked out of the bathroom, and stubbed his toe on the door jam. He muttered several very foul curse words under his breath.

"Oh, did Kuro-tan stub his toe" Fai teased, his voice a little raspy from the little amount of talking he'd done the past ten minutes.

"Shut up, moron" Kurogane grumbled. "Don't be so mean, Kuro-doggy, I'm perfectly fine with talking" Fai said, his voice still raspy.

"I am not your dog dammit, and your losing your voice" Kurogane pointed out.

Fai blinked, and then he smiled. "While wouldn't that be fun! It would be like charades."

"WHY THE HELL WOULD I FIND THAT FUN?!" Kurogane shouted, his toe still throbbing.

"Kuro-daddy, you don't wanna wake up the kids, do you?" Fai said, his smile changing into a smirk.

"If you don't shut up, I will personally tape your mouth shut" Kurogane threatened.

The idea of the mage having to communicate through hand gestures made him entirely willing to carry out his threat. "Wah! Kuro-wanko is so mean." Fai cried, but then his smile appeared again.

"Wouldn't mean we could play charades?" He asked sweetly. Kurogane groaned; he just wasn't having a good start to the day, now was he? Fai chuckled at Kurogane's severely irked-but-I'm-trying-to-hide-it face, his voice was dry and he had a coughing fit.

Kurogane stood up abruptly, and left the room (yes, his toe was still throbbing), leaving behind a somewhat amused Fai. He walked straight into the kitchen, startling two of the chef's. Kurogane's cranky not-a-morning-person's face was probably a little scary.

"Got anything good for sore throats?" He said, wanting to keep this short, very short. Hi toe didn't hurt half as much, or he was just used to it.

One of the chef's who wasn't fazed by him nodded, "We've got tea." Kurogane nodded, that'd work. Kurogane tapped his foot impatiently whilst the chef made the tea. When the chef presented him with two cups, Kurogane shook his head, "I only need one."

The chef shook his head, "No, take it, you look you need something to drink." Kurogane blinked, he had been so busy being irritated with Fai he hadn't noticed how thirsty he was.

"Thanks" He mumbled, taking both cups and heading back up the stairs.

He somehow managed to nudge the door open with his foot without spilling anything, and walked in. he pressed the warm cup of tea into Fai's hand, then sat on the edge of the bed, slowly drinking his tea. "Kuro-wanko" Fai began to protest.

"Drink it" Kurogane grunted. Fai looked as if he had something else to say, but thanks to a glaring red eye from Kurogane, he silently drank his tea.

"Kuro-wan-wan" he began the moment his tea was done, "you know I didn't need that." He nodded, "But it helped your throat, which means"

Kurogane smirked.

"that I don't have to play charades with you" he said. Fai smiled teasingly. Kurogane figured the smiling had to hurt, or had he somehow became numb to the pain. "Were you worried about me, Kuro-rin?" Fai said, smiling.

Kurogane almost faltered, but, being a ninja, he caught himself.

"No." he said bluntly, "I just don't want to play charades with you."

Fai smile widened, because, using some kind of power that could only be described as really weird, he'd managed to alter that sentence to point where it meant: "yes".

"Oh, Kuro-pon! You were worried" Fai cried, launching himself into the ninja's lap.

"What the hell? When did I say that?!" He demanded, shoving Fai off.

"Kuro-poo, you really should be nicer, I am sick after all" Fai pouted.

Kurogane looked for something hard and pointy to bang his head onto, you know, like a sword tip. He could tell, already, that today was probably going to turn into his own personal Hell. Once again, it was going to be a long day.

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Guess who drank orange crush before the last bit! Me? Well, your right, The third chapter will come eventually, but it's gonna me awhile. R&R please! 


	3. Chapter 3

Hah! Third chapter, finally. Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes, none of my friends like show so they aren't willing to proof read it. I can't because, well, i hate re-reading my stories, i always skip parts.

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Hey, we're going downstairs for breakfast, would you like to come?" Sakura asked, sticking her head through the door to Kurogane and Fai's room. Fai looked up, surprised for a moment. Sakura thought that it may have been a good thing she had interrupted now, there somewhat of an angry silence in the room. _Yes_,_ definitely good, _Sakura decided after seeing Kurogane's face. It was his someone-needs-to-die-right-now face. Fai smiled cheerfully, "Go down and eat, we'll be there in a few minutes." Sakura nodded, unsure if it was safe to leave them alone or not. "Alright then."

"Kuro-wanko, do you have an extra shirt I can borrow. Mine's a little, well, bloodstained."

The mage gestured at his white shirt, which was indeed bloodstained.

Kurogane rolled his eyes, as much as he didn't want to do this, it would cause more of commotion if the wizard was walking around with a bloody shirt. He grumbled something under his breath that could only be interpreted as rude as he grabbed another black shirt (Does he actually own any colored shirts?) from under the bed.

He handed it to Fai, who nodded in thanks. Fai couldn't take off his shirt without his wound hurting, so Kurogane had to help.

This just made his desire to kill the mage stronger. He frowned as the bandage was slowly revealed as his shirt was removed.

He _really _should check the wound, but he had a feeling that if he didn't get out soon, _someone_ was going to die.

No bonus points for guessing who.

Unfortunately, Kurogane had to help him get his shirt back on, by now his irritation was like the basketball of fury that someone was inflating to the brink of blowing up. One more thing, he thought slowly, one more thing. He got up to leave the room.

"Kuro-wanko, I don't think I can walk" Fai complained, a note of taunting-ness in his voice. Kurogane grumbled something that was, again, presumably, very rude.

Could he not tell when Kurogane was in a horrible mood? It was pretty obvious, it was written all over him, and spewing off him, and he was pretty much chucking little bolts of rage around, but, alas, Fai remained oblivious to it.

"You're walking" Kurogane grunted, aiming a look full of: If-you-don't-stop-your-whining-you're-going-to-die,-very,-v_ery-_soon-ness.

But, as Fai was Fai, he ignored it and gave him his best attempt at the one-eyed-puppy-dog-eyes.

Kurogane scoffed, "If I let you balance yourself on my arm, will you stop giving me that sappy look?" Fai nodded happily, stood up, and managed to stumble his way to Kurogane, upon which he grabbed his arm and balanced himself.

"Kuro-poo, you're so nice" Fai gushed, like an annoying fangirl.

Kurogane scoffed, "How long did you practice that?" Fai cocked his head to the side sweetly.

"Practice what?"

"That _look_" Kurogane said, emphasizing the word 'look' with certain disgust at the fact a grown man could even make a face as un-manly as that.

"Longer than you'd think" Fai admitted.

Kurogane rolled his eyes.

Alright, he thought, the mage just lost two respect points. No, it wasn't like he had ever respected the guy, you see, he had zero at first, fluffy coat: minus 2 points, giving him stupid nicknames: minus 10 points, and you get the point. Kurogane had lost count of the amount of negative points, although he had given him a few back, only to be taken away after the whole vampire thing, when he was acting like an idiot.

He sighed, it'd just be better if he stopped counting in general. They headed down the stairs and into the breakfast area.

They approached the table where Sakura, Syaoran, and that doctor guy whose name Kurogane had forgotten, again.

"You shouldn't be walking" the doctor guy scolded after noticing them. "Told you" Fai said.

Kurogane muttered something that, once again, could only mean something quite rude.

Cameron was the only that seemed remotely insulted by what he said, everyone else considered it normal for the red-eyed ninja. Silence came next, a long, awkward silence.

Awkward.

Ten more seconds, very awkward.

Thirty more seconds, very, _very_, awkward.

A minute, very SUPER-FRIGGIN' awkward.

"Do you, umm, want something to eat" Sakura asked, determined to break the very awkward silence.

"Of course" Fai responded cheerfully. Thank you! Everyone thought, relieved.

As Kurogane and Fai sat down, Kurogane noticed something odd, there wasn't that omg-something-white-and-furry-will-be-flying-at-your-face-within-the-next-ten-minutes feeling. This only meant one thing, no Mokona.

Kurogane grinned (mentally, of course, if he had grinned for real, his little group may be a tad concerned).

Kurogane looked at his food, it looked fairly good-tasting, but you could never tell if it was poisoned, so Kurogane poked it warily with a spoon for a few minutes.

It looked like woodchips in milk coated with some odd white stuff on it, anyone would be wary of that, right?

Right?

Kurogane gave up poking it, it wasn't going to get him anywhere, and so, he took a spoonful…and shoved it in his mouth. He chewed, and swallowed. It didn't _taste _poisoned, but, then again, if something was poisoned, _would _you be able to taste it?

It did taste really sugary so Kurogane only managed to wolf down about half of it before choking on its sweet-ness.

"You alright there?" Cameron asked. (A.N: No, Kurogane doesn't remember his name, I just really don't feel like typing: 'The Doctor' much more.)

"Fine" Kurogane said, still a little out of breath from the choking experience.

He glanced over at Fai, having a feeling he wouldn't be eating, again, Kurogane knew that he didn't have to, but at least by making him it wouldn't cause a fuss about him having some sort of eating disorder.

He was about to whisper something to his companion about at least pretending to eat, when he noticed that Fai was slowly munching on some of whatever crap they had been eating.

His jaw dropped slightly.

Big Mistake.

Fai, being more ninja than the ninja himself, slowly scooped up the food (a.k.a cereal) slowly, making it all seem _very _casual, then…….HE SHOVED IT IN HIS MOUTH!

Kurogane blinked in surprise as he felt the cold metal of the spoon and the oddly sweet taste of the cereal in his mouth.

He _really _should've seen that one coming.

"Wha" was all he managed before Fai pushed it back a little farther into his mouth, "Come on Kuro-wan-wan" Fai teased "Just swallow and get it over with."

Fixing Fai with his best I'm-going-to-kill-you-while-your-asleep looks, he relented, and swallowed.

He gagged as the sickeningly sweet taste went down his throat. Once he could breathe, he was fuming.

"What the hell was that for you bastard?" The ninja was livid. "I can feed myself!"

Fai seemed unfazed by Kurogane's sudden outburst. "But feeding you is so much more fun." He moved closer to the ninja's face, so close they're noses were almost touching.

"Get away from me" Kurogane hissed.

"But I don't want to" he said sweetly, putting his arm around the ninja.

Kurogane placed his arm around Fai, pretending to be okay with it, and getting some weird looks from the kids.

He pulled Fai in closer to his chest and held him tighter, and then he promptly began rubbing his fist back and forth on his head as hard as he felt necessary.

"Ouch, Kuro-wanko, you're mean" Fai whined.

Kurogane pushed him away gently.

Fai rubbed his head and grinned.

"Kuro-pyon, you should treat sick people more nicely" he scolded playfully.

"Glad to see your feeling better" he said, rolling his eyes. To anyone else, it would seem he was being sarcastic, but Sakura, Syaoran, and Fai, they could tell he meant it, no matter how much sarcasm he put into his voice.

Cameron was shocked at the relief on their faces, Kurogane seemed really mad, so he couldn't see why anyone would bother him as relentlessly as Fai did.

"Thanks, Kuro-wan-wan" Fai said slowly, sounding way less annoying than before.

"I was being sarcastic, dumbass" Kurogane said.

Fai gave him a raised eyebrow look. He rolled his eyes. Kurogane grabbed his bowl, stood up, and mumbling some excuse about packing, he left.

This wasn't the best excuse seeing as they had little to pack, but none the less, he packed what they had, grabbed everyone's cloaks, and stole the Inn's little shampoo packets, and two towels.

No one was going to notice.

He hoped. After he found Mokona, and stuffed him into Fai's hood.

C'mon, it was so fluffy; no one was going to notice a little extra fluff in it.

He had just finished stuffing a towel into the small bag he had with him when there was a knock on the door. When he opened it, Fai tumbled in. Kurogane managed to catch him before he hit the ground.

"Thanks Kuro-moo" Fai said, standing up slowly.

"Did you come all the way up here by yourself?" Kurogane grabbed Fai's arm to steady him before he fell again.

Fai nodded.

"I just wanted to see if you needed help packing."

"Well, I'm done" Kurogane said.

Mokona flew out form Fai's coats hood.

"Fai, are feeling ok? Mokona was worried" Mokona cried, flinging itself at Fai.

Fai chuckled and winced as Mokona hit his sore side.

"I'm fine."

"Fine?" Kurogane scoffed, "You're sick, and wounded."

Fai put his hands up in protest. "No, really, I'm fine, I'm feeling much better."

As if to contradict himself, he sneezed.

"Fai should take better care of himself" Mokona scolded.

Kurogane nodded.

"Put this on" Kurogane said, holding out Fai's coat. Fai nodded slowly.

"Kuro-wanko, can you help me?" Kurogane grunted in response, and helped get the fuzzy thing he called a coat on. Kurogane put his cloak on slowly.

"You're ready to go?" He asked.

Fai nodded.

"You're not going to be a bother and throw up on the way, are you?"

Fai shook his head. "I promise I won't throw up."

There was something in his voice that made Kurogane think he was joking, but with Fai, you could never tell.

"Is Kuro-myuu worried?" Mokona asked.

"Now what would make you think that?" Kurogane grunted, taking a swing at Mokona.

"Mokona has magical powers" Mokona said, dodging Kurogane's oncoming fist.

"Fai? Kurogane?" A voice asked from the door. Kurogane peered around Fai.

It was Syaoran.

"We're ready to leave."

Fai nodded, and, clapping his hands together, replied. "Very good, we'll be down shortly."

Syaoran nodded and started back down the stairs.

"What are we going to do with Mokona?" Fai asked.

"Well, I was going to shove Mokona into your hood" Kurogane began.

Fai gasped. "That's a terrible thing to do."

"Why is Kuro-pon so mean to Mokona" Mokona complained.

"Because you're so annoying" Kurogane snapped, winding up for another punch.

Fai quickly grabbed Mokona and pulled him close to his chest, knowing that Kurogane wasn't going to punch him.

Fai was right. Kurogane didn't.

"Mokona, you can be my pet rabbit" Fai said sweetly.

Mokona bobbed up and down cheerfully in Fai's arms. "Ok."

"It's settled then" Fai said, turning on one foot towards the door.

He snapped his fingers. "Come on Kuro-woofy."

"I'm not your dog" Kurogane snapped, following Fai out of their room.

"Kuro-wanko?"

"What?"

"I don't think I can walk down the stairs, can you carry me?"

"No."

* * *

The forth chapter is gonna take a while, seeing as how my basketball games are starting. Yeah, so bye! 


	4. Chapter 4

**Aha! Fourth chapter up! Finally. Took me long enough, huh? **

* * *

They were seated in the backseat of Cameron's horse and buggy, and Sakura was driving.

After Sakura had herself seated upfront, Syaoran glanced at Kurogane, he could tell they where both thinking the same thing.

"Hold on tight" Kurogane grunted. Syaoran nodded, and gripped the edge of the seat.

Now, Fai, who had also heard these instructions, had tightly clamped his arms around Kurogane's waist.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" Kurogane asked, sounding ticked already.

"Kuro-myu said to hold on tight, and that's what I'm doing. Kuro-pyon's so caring, worried about me falling off."

Kurogane scoffed, and went straight into attempt to pry Fai's hands off him.

This only made Fai hold on tighter. Muttering something about the young blond being a bastard, he settled back, giving up on getting Fai off him.

Fai smiled contently, and Kurogane's eye began twitching like a madman's.

Syaoran edged himself away from the twitching ninja slowly, unsure of which was worse; Kurogane when he finally snapped, or bouncing off the edge of the carriage. He was close to choosing the latter.

Luckily, Mokona sensed what he was about to do, and hopped into Syaoran's lap to prevent it.

"Any sign of the feather?" Syaoran asked quietly. Mokona shook his head vigorously.

Eventually, Cameron took the reins back from Sakura, and sent her to the back.

"How was I?" She asked. Syaoran gave her a weak smile and thumbs up.

"Really?" she asked, sounding amazed.

Syaoran nodded shakily, feeling guilty about lying. Sakura smiled and seated herself next to Syaoran.

Syaoran looked over at his two companions in order to make sure Kurogane hadn't exploded yet, but, instead of finding his companion on the verge of a mental breakdown, he looked calm.

Syaoran frowned.

He figured Kurogane would've been close to throwing him off the edge, instead he actually looked like he was okay with this.

He had often wondered what was really going on between the mage and the ninja, but, because he feared what would happen if he asked.

He knew that if he asked Fai(granted Kurogane was around), he would probably respond with how he and Kurogane were 'best-buddies' or something else that sounds similar.

He wasn't sure what Kurogane would do, but he didn't think he wanted to know.

Fai pulled away from Kurogane, a large smile on his face.

"Kuro-myuu didn't shove me away" Fai said.

"Well, it got you to shut up" Kurogane muttered.

Syaoran held back a laugh as they began to bicker again.

"They really are quite a pair" He whispered to Sakura, who smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Fai, are you alright?" Sakura asked, a look of concern growing on her face.

Syaoran turned back around and saw what she meant; Fai had turned a pale-ish green color.

Kurogane understood what was going on and merely point to the edge of the carriage.

Fai nodded, covered his mouth and rushed to side of the carriage.

Syaoran patted Sakura's shoulder awkwardly as she grimaced at the belching noises.

Then they hit a bump.

Fai, being the light person he is, nearly went flying.

Nearly, that is, because Kurogane managed to reach out, grab Fai by the armpits and pull him back to safety.

"Idiot" Kurogane grunted.

Fai was a tad shaken by his flying out of the carriage experience, so his face wasn't plastered with one of his smiles when he said.

"I'm fine Kuro-wanko."

"I never asked anything like that!" Kurogane snapped. "Ah! But you looked so worried Kuro-poo" Fai said, leaning against Kurogane slightly.

Kurogane scoffed, shifting his body around slightly so Fai fell onto the floor of the carriage. "Wahh!" He cried in mock despair "Kuro-pyon is so mean."

Kurogane leaned back, folding his arms.

Sakura knelt down beside Fai, helping him up.

"Maybe you should try sleeping?" Sakura suggested, "The ride will be over faster that way."

Fai nodded weakly. "Thanks for the tip"

He seated him self next to Kurogane (Which Syaoran found a stupid thing to do), and leaned against him slightly, closing his eyes.

Kurogane grumbled something irritably but didn't shove Fai away.

"At least he's feeling better" Syaoran said after a few minutes, hoping to break the tension.

Kurogane scoffed gruffly, placing a hand on the blonde's forehead.

"He's a good actor" Kurogane stated after pulling his hand away.

Fai moved slightly in his sleep, reaching for Kurogane's hand before he pulled it out of reach.

Syaoran thought he heard a rather foul curse word come from Kurogane.

Not that it would've surprised him or anything, but he wasn't sure. Kurogane yanked his hand away, obviously irked.

"I'm already letting you use me as a pillow, I am _not_" – He put extra emphasizes on the word 'not' –"Holding your stupid hand" He snapped, pulling his hand away from Fai's grasp.

Fai, as if in response to this, snuggled closer.

Kurogane grumbled to himself angrily, causing Syaoran to move a little closer to Sakura.

Mokona's ear twitched slightly, but then it started twitching like a mad rabbit.

"Is it a feather?" Kurogane hissed, trying to lean closer to Mokona without knocking Fai over.

He failed terribly and had to resort to wrapping one arm around him while leaning forward.

Syaoran thought it must've been very uncomfortable. "So, is it a feather?" He repeated.

Mokona nodded excitedly.

"Where?" Sakura asked, leaving Syaoran being the only conscious one who hadn't bothered to talk.

Mokona nodded slowly towards a mountain like shape looming in the distance.

Kurogane sighed. "It would be so much easier if you could just talk."

"You know that wouldn't work" Syaoran whispered back.

It was true, it would ruin the whole: 'Mokona is a rabbit' disguise they had planned out.

"Um, excuse me, but is there any way we could get onto the mountain" Sakura asked Cameron sweetly, pointing at the slightly more visible mountain.

"You want to go to the mountain?" He asked, sounding shocked.

"Yeah" Syaoran said, nodding vigorously.

"But why?" Cameron asked.

"What's it to you?" Kurogane snapped.

Kurogane had leaned back, but he hadn't removed his arm from being wrapped around Fai's shoulders.

Syaoran figured he'd hoped no one had noticed.

"Well, um" The doctor said, obviously surprised by Kurogane's sudden outburst.

"I suppose you could stay at my old cabin up there" he said awkwardly, "But you'd need money for food. I haven't been there for a while."

"We could sell some of our old stuff" Sakura suggested.

Kurogane nodded gruffly. "Sure, not like we really need it."

"You're sure you wanna go up there?" He asked.

"Yeup" Syaoran said.

"Well, it's about a six hour hike to the top, and you'd have to stop and eat, it'd be a long trip" Cameron said, obviously still unsure that they really wanted to do this.

"What's your point?" Kurogane snapped.

Sakura giggled nervously. "Calm down" she whispered.

Kurogane shot her a death glare before he realized who he was death glaring at.

Syaoran let out a sigh of relief as Kurogane grimaced apologetically (A smile was too much to ask of him at the moment).

Syaoran had thought for a moment he may have had to protect the princess from an angry Kurogane's wrath, something he didn't particularly want to do.

A angry Kurogane wasn't really someone you wanted to fight.

"So, are you really sure?" Cameron asked again.

"Yes" Sakura said, nodding.

"Well, then, I suppose you've got quite a long walk ahead of you" Cameron said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Kurogane grumbled.

"We're here" he added, raising his right arm to point, knocking the sleeping Fai into Syaoran.

Fai mumbled something in his sleep as he fell against Syaoran.

Sakura giggled quietly.

"I guess we have some shopping to do."

* * *

**This isn't where I wanted to end it, but I thought that I hadn't actually put anythign on here lately, so yeah. Stupid laziness. Ok, once again, expect this to take awhile, I'm not actually busy this week, just lazy. **

**Peace out. YourAverageObsessiveGirl 3**


	5. Chapter 5

**Yay, new chapter! I pulled an all-nighter writing this one cause of writer's block. It's like hurdles, only less painful when you fall.**

* * *

Oh, great, shopping.

Kurogane's least favorite form of activity.

Oh, he could handle most of the kinds of torture people threw at him.

You know, the normal types of torture like stabbing, tidily-winks, those creepy kids show songs, whipping, and a bed of nails.

But shopping was a cruel and usual type of punishment.

If Kurogane was an optimist he would've found the fact that it was only grocery shopping and the fact that a certain blond wizard wasn't around reassuring.

But, lack of sleep had made Kurogane somewhat pessimistic.

He frowned as the princess started placing food in the small basket she was carrying.

Kurogane was having a hard time remembering how he'd ended up escorting the princess on the quest for food. Fai was ruled out from the beginning for Cameron had decided to check up on his wound and such. So Kurogane had handed over the sleeping Fai, almost unwillingly, and the rest had left.

As he ran through the events again, he remembered why he was stuck here.

"Kurogane" Syaoran had asked, "Do you want to ask around about the feather?" Kurogane had shaken his head.

"Not a chance."

Which meant it was Syaoran's job to look into that.

Not like Kurogane should've even been complaining.

Even he knew that Syaoran had more people skills than him. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Sakura slipping a bottle of sake into the basket.

He grumbled to himself before finding something for headaches on a shelf and tossing it into the basket as he walked past.

"Are we almost done?" Kurogane asked tiredly.

Sakura nodded. "Yes. Sorry if this took a while, I'm not quite sure how long we'll be gone for."

Kurogane sighed with relief. It was almost over. After about an hour, it was almost over.

"Sakura! Kurogane!" Syaoran's voice rang out above that of the crowds.

Kurogane lips twitched up into something of a smile.

Good, it was the kid. Someone who liked shopping about as much as him.

"Oh, hello Syaoran" Sakura said brightly, "I was just about to pay."

"Find anything kid?" Kurogane grunted.

Syaoran shook his head.

"Not much, I asked a few kids, they told me a bit about a water spirit in a lake on the mountain, apparently it's really hard to find. When I asked for a bit more, all they said was 'Shun the non-believer! SHUUUNNNNN!' and then they ran off." Syaoran sighed.

Kurogane felt somewhat sorry for the kid, asking around must've been hard today.

"You two wait outside" Sakura commanded gently.

"Okay" Syaoran said, nodding to the door, telling Kurogane to go.

Kurogane nodded and followed Syaoran out the door.

"You look tired" Syaoran commented.

"That's 'cause I am" Kurogane said, trying and failing to keep the irritation out of his voice.

"Didn't sleep well?" Syaoran asked sympathetically He shook his head. "No, the damn mage kept me up."

"Try and be nice" Syaoran said, he grimaced as he said it.

Kurogane sighed. He'd try, but, when you're spending almost all your day with someone like him, it gets a tad hard.

Sakura soon emerged from the store, arms full of bags filled to the brim with food. Syaoran and Kurogane took a few bags and they wandered back to Cameron's place.

"So, exactly how much did you learn today" Sakura asked Syaoran eagerly.

Syaoran smiled and began animatedly relating the stories of his brief adventure, leaving Kurogane to be the one to approach the house.

He knocked on the door roughly. He didn't particularly care how loud he was.

The door opened slowly, revealing a confused looking Cameron.

"Oh!" He said, "Your friend is in that room just down the hall. First door to the left."

He gestured down the hall, the confused look still plastered on his face.

Kurogane paid no mind to how he looked; he walked past him slowly and headed towards the room.

Sakura, however, was a bit more concerned. "Are you alright?" She asked. He nodded quickly.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. I'm just going to go make some tea. Yes tea" He babbled for a few more minutes before wandering off to the kitchen.

Sakura cast him a worried glance, and Syaoran raised an eyebrow as they hurried off to see Fai.

* * *

"You okay?" Kurogane asked as he entered the room.

Fai was lying on a comfortable looking sofa. His eye was only half lidded and had a sort of dazed look to it.

"Fine, just fine Kuro-myuu" Fai said, waving his hand dismissively before breaking into a huge coughing fit.

"It's Kurogane" he corrected, rolling his eyes quickly before examining the room.

It wasn't really a large room; there were two sofas, a mahogany table in between the two, and a bookcase that was pretty much lodged into the corner. He dropped the bag of food he was carrying before he seated himself on the sofa across from Fai.

"Oh, do you like Timmy?" Fai asked, his voice was raspy from the coughing fit.

"Timmy?" Kurogane asked.

There was no one else in the room, so unless Fai was seeing people, which Kurogane wouldn't have found hard to believe, Fai had done something that was presumably idiotic.

"Yes, Timmy, the couch." Fai giggled lightly, "I named the couches."

Kurogane rolled his eyes. Why was he not surprised?

Fai coughed slightly before continuing, "You see, this ones Bob, that ones Timmy."

Kurogane raised an eyebrow.

"Did you hit your head or something?"

Fai chuckled. "No, silly Kuro-pyon. Why would you think that?"

"Your acting" Kurogane paused, trying to come up with the right word. "

More loopy than normal" Kurogane finally said.

Fai opened his mouth to explain when Syaoran and Sakura walked in. "What'd you do to Cameron?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, he looked a little baffled" Syaoran said.

Fai smiled that idiotic fake smile of his.

"He gave me some type of pain-killer thing" he said, answering Kurogane's question. "He said something about how I needed stitches, but I guess my wound healed a little too quickly for him."

Kurogane moved over on the sofa, making room for the two teenagers. They sat down gratefully.

"Where's the manjuu?" Kurogane asked gruffly.

Mokona, as if set off by some sort of alarm, flew out from the bookshelf.

"Didja miss Mokona?" Mokona asked, flying around rapidly before settling itself into Fai's arms.

"Not really" Kurogane said.

"Waa!! Kuro-woofy is so mean" Mokona cried, burying its head into Fai's chest.

"Shouldn't we be leaving?" Kurogane asked impatiently.

"Patience is a virtue" Fai reminded him before sneezing.

"Like hell it is" Kurogane scoffed.

"We were invited for tea" Sakura said, cutting in before they started bickering.

"We don't have time for tea" Kurogane snapped. "I want to make it before sundown."

"And you will" Cameron said, carrying in a tray with tea-cups. He placed the tray down on the table and looked for a place to sit.

It took a fair amount of rearranging sitting arrangements before everyone was seated, for the most part, comfortably.

Kurogane had ended up seated with Fai on the other sofa.

It wouldn't have been much of a problem except for the fact that Fai was a little loopy and could barely sit up by himself, so he spent most of his time leaning on Kurogane. Sakura was seated in between Cameron and Syaoran, Mokona was sound asleep on her lap.

"Kuro-pyuu is so warm" Fai cooed softly for about the hundredth time.

Okay, more like third, but it felt like more to Kurogane.

"So are you" He snapped. His fever hadn't gone down at all.

"So, why are you here?" Cameron asked, taking a sip from his tea.

Kurogane looked at Syaoran sharply. He almost always had one planned; he just didn't always tell them.

Kurogane hoped.

"Well, umm" Syaoran said awkwardly. Kurogane got the hint that Syaoran had nothing, but neither did he, so he gently elbowed Fai.

"We're a family" Fai said brightly. It still amazed Kurogane how Fai could lie so quickly on the spot. Oh well, he'd probably had a lot of practice.

"Well, they are" Fai fake admitted, "I just come along for the ride."

"The ride?" Cameron asked.

Fai nodded slightly, but instantly regretted it. A wave of light-headedness came over him. He rubbed his forehead slightly.

Kurogane placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded in encouragement.

He sank back as Fai resumed talking. For once, he was glad. If Fai talked, he didn't have to.

Which came as a relief, so all he had to do was keep everyone's eyes off of him so they wouldn't ask him a question.

"Isn't that right, Kuro-poo?" Fai asked suddenly.

So much for that plan.

"What?" Kurogane asked.

"Oh, was Kuro-wan-wan not paying attention?" Fai teased.

"Shut up and tell me the question" Kurogane snapped.

"Only if you say please" Fai said innocently.

"No way" Kurogane scoffed.

"Say please Kuro-chan." Fai said playfully.

"Call me Kurogane" he retorted angrily.

Fai paused thoughtfully for a moment, stroking his chin. "Say please" he repeated.

Kurogane sighed, "Fine. Please." He spat out the word with disgust.

"Please what?" Fai pressed.

Kurogane's eye started twitching slightly. The mage was tap dancing on his last nerve, and to make it worse, the mage damn well knew it.

"Please repeat the question" Kurogane hissed irritably.

"I was just saying how we got into a fight a while back and then Kuro-sama saved me, and that's why we came here. Isn't that right, Kuro-pyon?"

Kurogane nodded, and then he noticed something.

"Hey, I said please" Kurogane said suspiciously.

"Ah, but not 'Please call me Kurogane'" Fai said smartly.

"Stupid mage" Kurogane muttered under his breath.

"Thanks for the tea, I think we'd best be going now." Syaoran said abruptly.

Kurogane nodded, placing his cup of tea (That he'd hardly touched) back on the tray.

Cameron collected the other cups and left the room. He had a someone dejected look on his face, perhaps because he hadn't foudn out why Fai's wound had healed so easily.

Kurogane stood up quickly, allowing Fai – Who had still been leaning against him oh so slightly – to fall over on the couch.

"So," Sakura said, glancing between the bags and Fai. "Who's carrying what?"

"I'll carry the mage" Kurogane sighed.

Fai clapped happily.

Kurogane rolled his eyes.

The stupid mage looked like a seal, lying on his side and clapping like that.

Didn't he have any dignity as a man whatsoever?

He took Fai's random giggling at a pattern he had found on the wall as a no.

He somehow managed to sling Fai over his shoulders so he was carrying him piggyback.

Sakura and Syaoran managed to divide the food bags between themselves, and then they left his house. Sakura had wanted to say thanks again, but he had pretty much kicked them out the door.

Sure, Fai had scolded him, but at least they could leave.

"Six hours" Kurogane sighed once they were at the foot of the mountain.

"Hyuuu" Fai made his weird whistling noise, nuzzling his blond head against Kurogane's cheek, "Kuro-tan is so manly, carrying me all the way."

"If you don't stop making those stupid whistling noises and shut up, I'll drop you here" Kurogane threatened.

"Don't be mean Kuro-sama." Fai pouted.

Kurogane loosened his grip on Fai's legs, which was pretty much the only thing keeping him up besides his arms, which were only loosely wrapped around Kurogane's neck.

Fai pulled his arms tighter around Kurogane's neck to prevent himself from falling off.

"Choking" Kurogane gasped. Geez, the mage had a tight grip when he wanted.

"Sorry Kuro-woofy, I didn't hurt you did I?" Fai said playfully.

Kurogane cringed slightly at the raspy sound of his voice.

"Do yourself a favor and shut up" Kurogane said.

"But" Fai opened his mouth to protest.

"No, you're losing your voice, and I don't particularly feel like playing charades."

Fai closed his mouth and was silent. He rested his head slightly against Kurogane's cheek.

"Hey! Syaoran! Look at the flowers!" Sakura shouted, she had ran a few meters ahead and was examining the flowers.

Syaoran smiled and followed her to see what all the excitement was about.

Kurogane gathered his bearings and joined the teenagers on the trek up the mountain.

* * *

**Yay! Fifth chappie! Hugs readers I wasn't sure that I'd even make it this far, but postive reviews really made me wanna write more. I have no idea how long it's gonna be, I think I have an ending planned, but you never know. I watched the second Tsubasa OVA earlier today(A.K.A four A.M). I was so close to tears when Kurogane was all "He changed for the sake of you and the princess, so you would laugh again!" Ah, but this is the curse of being a fangirl. But then again, it's so mcuh fun.**

**R&R please, positive reviews give me more reason to write.**

**Bye! Sincerly YourAverageObsessiveGirl. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Woah, I've been in review shock. I took a nap after putting the last chappie up, and then when I woke up, I was so surprised. Sorry for this one being short, I wanted to end it where I did, and I like where it started.**

* * *

Kurogane grumbled under his breath. Make it there before sunset, yeah right. 

The sun was setting, and they were still walking.

His back hurt from carrying Fai, and he had a headache from Fai's inaudible ramblings.

He had told Fai to go to sleep, but he said no, a scared pitch in his tone that no one else noted.

It bothered him that after everything he still felt the need to lie to them. Not like it mattered, he wasn't really all that hard to see through.

Fai inhaled sharply. "What is it?" Kurogane asked quietly. Fai sneezed.

"Nothing, Kuro-myu" He said shakily. "No need to worry."

"Who said I worried" Kurogane scoffed.

He couldn't help but notice that Fai had wrapped his arms around Kurogane's neck just a little tighter.

Of course, it was hard not to notice when the fuzzy stuff on his coat was just a little closer to his mouth, making it a tad harder to breathe.

He was about to press the matter further, when Sakura said: "There it is!" Sakura pointed ahead.

Sure enough; there was a large log cabin with a porch swing sitting out front.

Kurogane smirked. Finally, he could get Fai off of him.

"Mokona sees it too" Mokona cooed, flying around excitedly.

Syaoran opened the door, as he was the only that didn't have his hands full.

Kurogane left Fai with Sakura who had taken the food to the kitchen almost immediately; once she was done unpacking they went to explore the rest of the cabin.

On the first floor there was a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and a laundry/storage room. There were three rooms and a bathroom on the second floor.

Sakura opened the door to the first one on the left. She gasped in amazement as she entered, when Kurogane followed he saw why.

The room was completely colored in pinks in purples.

"It looks like Princess Tomoyo blew up" Kurogane commented.

He couldn't figure out why any kind of man would have a pink and purple room. Maybe he had a daughter?

Sakura claimed the room. Syaoran picked the one straight across from hers, it had a huge bookshelf.

Fai got the last one. Fai lay down on the bed, his eyes already half-closed. Kurogane frowned at the kid, signaling him to get out.

Syaoran nodded and gently led Sakura out.

"Does daddy want some alone time with mommy?" Fai asked sleepily.

"Pff, like hell he does" Kurogane snapped, "You need to drink."

Kurogane wasn't quite sure of why he never let Syaoran and Sakura be around when he fed Fai, but he was fairly certain that he had been listening to Fai a little too much lately.

Kurogane pulled out his dagger and cut his forearm slightly.

Fai tried to sit up, but sagged back into the pillow.

Kurogane rolled his eyes, muttering, yet again, about something that could only be taken as rude.

The ninja used one arm to support the mage, while he pressed the wound to his lips. Fai reluctantly began drinking. Eventually he sagged back.

"Thanks Kuro-pon" he mumbled sleepily, his eye already half closed.

"How hard is it to say Kurogane?" Kurogane asked irritably. Fai just grinned in response before falling asleep.

The ninja let the sleeping mage fall into the pillows then left the room.

Relief hit him as he remembered he wouldn't be sharing a room with the mage, he would rather share a room with Mokona.

Okay, that one was an overstatement, he would rather sleep outside, on the cold, hard ground was more like it.

"Kuro-pii!" a voice cried the moment Kurogane stepped off the last stair.

Kurogane sidestepped the flying white manjuu bun, as it came hurtling at his head.

"I HAVE A REAL NAME!" Kurogane hollered.

"Kuro-chii should be quieter" Mokona scolded, having miraculously recovered from slamming headfirst into a flight of stairs, "You could wake Fai."

Kurogane crossed his arms in frustration. "Like I care" He muttered.

"Kuro-wan is quieter" Mokona cheered. "SHUT UP YOU STUPID MANJUU BUN!" He shouted.

"Wahh! Kuro-daddy is being mean!" Mokona cried, bouncing up and down on Kurogane's head.

Kurogane stepped back, building up force in his fist. He took a huge swing at the manjuu.

Mokona, being almost as agile as Fai, dodged, resulting in Kurogane fist smacking the wall.

Kurogane cringed as he examined the damage, it was dented.

It wasn't that noticeable, Kurogane reasoned, so long as you didn't stare at the particular part of the wall.

Syaoran and Sakura emerged from the kitchen, only aware that something was going on in the hall because of the slight crack of the drywall.

For the two teens Kurogane's temper flares had become nothing if not normal.

"Mokona, how close was the feather?" Syaoran asked, hoping to distract Kurogane for a while.

"Feather?" Kurogane asked.

"Mokona sensed it was close" Mokona said. "But then Mokona got distracted."

"With what?" Kurogane asked impatiently.

Sakura blushed guiltily. "Mokona was taste testing something."

"Taste testing what?" Kurogane asked, suddenly aware of the fact he hadn't eaten in a while.

"A new recipe" Sakura said, "I'm not sure how it'll taste though."

"It'll taste fine" Syaoran said, grinning for extra effect.

"How long" Kurogane grunted.

Sakura looked startled for a moment before she realized what he was asking about.

"Around an hour, I think" she stammered.

"Good" Kurogane said gruffly, "Kid, grab your sword."

Syaoran nodded, "Mokona?"

Mokona opened her mouth wide, pizza pan wide, and spit Hien.

Kurogane could never figure out how the manjuu could open it's mouth so wide, seeing as it was so small. Maybe it could eat itself. Kurogane smirked at the thought.

But, no, that wouldn't work; otherwise he'd be stuck, in some random world, with two kids and an annoying blond wizard.

Although the wizard wasn't always that annoying, only when he felt the need to hide something, which was almost all the time.

A sudden thud as a sword came slamming into his forehead interrupted his thoughts.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" the ninja roared, grabbing the sword and shaking it at Mokona.

"You need it to train, right?" Mokona inquired.

Kurogane began muttering irritably to himself as he left the room, Syaoran trailing behind.

Once they were outside, standing in front of the kitchen window, Kurogane began lecturing him on the importance of being able to use both hands.

"I suppose you use your left hand" Kurogane said, "So use your right hand for whatever's left of this."

Syaoran's eyes widened. "Don't worry, I'll be using my left hand" He said, smirking oh so slightly.

Syaoran exchanged the sword from his left hand to his right, Kurogane doing the opposite.

Syaoran took the first swing, doing a full-frontal attack that Kurogane neatly blocked.

Kurogane leapt back, propelling himself using the force that Syaoran was putting onto Souhi.

Kurogane took a swing at the kid's side.

Syaoran jumped sideways then lunged in, taking advantage for Kurogane's temporary opening.

The ninja moved swiftly, dodging the attack, but it was a close one.

"You're getting good" Kurogane commented. Syaoran lunged again, his sheathed sword making contact with the ninja's arm.

Kurogane hastily grabbed the kids' shoulder, holding him in place, while he pressed his sheathed sword against the kid's neck.

"I'm still better" Kurogane said proudly, letting the kid go.

Syaoran grinned. "Up for a rematch?"

Kurogane smirked, he couldn't resist a challenge.

"Yeah, sure." Syaoran grinned and readjusted his grip on Hien's hilt.

Syaoran struck first again, faking the first attack and then abruptly changing the direction of the sword.

Kurogane wasn't even slightly thrown off by his attack; he had known the kid would try to pull something like this.

He narrowly escaped the sheathed end of the sword on the first attack and prepared for the dodge and attack after the kid's next blow.

Trying to fake-out the opponent was good, but it almost always left an opening, one that Kurogane was intending to take.

Well, intending, seeing as a how a piercing, terrifying scream was heard from inside the house.

* * *

**Ohohoho, suspense. Once again, sorry for shortness, and for lack of KuroFai, I just wanted to give Sakura, Syaoran, and Mokona more of a part in this. That and the fatc if Kuro-pii spent to much time with Fai, I think he'd explode. **

**R&R, and, most importantly, don't get hit by a bus.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I did the one thing I said I would never do for a fanfic. Research. Ugh, I forgot where Fai and Yuui were when they were locked up, and then I looked it up. Now, read, cause I stayed up past my bedtime to put this up for you guys.**

* * *

Syaoran blinked, stumbling a bit as he pulled back from the attack. Had he just heard a scream? 

His first thought was that Sakura was in trouble, so he was gone and running by the time Kurogane had even figured out that someone could actually be in trouble.

Kurogane quickly caught up with the kid. Syaoran pretty much broke the door of his hinges as he burst through the door.

"Princess Sakura! Are you alright?!" He hollered. Sakura came out of the kitchen

"Yeah, I'm fine, did you-" Syaoran nodded. Kurogane blinked.

Wait a minute; if the scream hadn't come from Sakura, it had to have come from Fai.

Kurogane felt his eye twitch slightly. Fai had such a girly scream. It was really disturbing.

"I'll go check on Fai" Sakura said, rushing up the stairs. "Watch the food" she hollered before turning to head into Fai's room.

Syaoran and Kurogane walked into the kitchen.

Kurogane seated himself at the table, leaning back in the chair.

Syaoran grabbed the fork from beside the stove and stared blankly at whatever Sakura was cooking.

"What'd she mean by watch it?" Syaoran asked, poking it cautiously, as though it might explode.

"Hn" Kurogane grunted. Syaoran just continued poking it, still looking afraid. Kurogane closed his eyes.

A part of him wanted to see if the mage was fine, the other wanted to stab himself with a fork for even wanting to. The ninja was pretty much spilt in two about everything that had to do with that damn mage.

There was his pride, the part of him that felt the consistent urge to kill the mage, and the manjuu, and Yuuko; and then there was the gentler side of him, the part that he rarely let show cause whenever it was about, his pride would shove it in a safe, lock it, then forget the combination.

Kurogane's pride won in most situations, this was just another one of those.

It wasn't like he _encouraged_ his pride to win, it was just the fact that he had spent so long on his reputation and he wasn't about to let some perky blond who couldn't face his own issues ruin it. He cringed inwardly.

And this was _exactly_ why he kept on hurting the mage's feelings.

Not like he cared, the mage was constantly on his nerves, and he hated that about him.

But hadn't someone once said the love was easy to mistake with- "Kuro-chan's sleeping" A loud voice cried out.

Kurogane's red eyes shot open as he felt something soft make contact with his forehead, causing the chair he was sitting in to tip over.

"IT'S KUROGANE" Kurogane snapped, now lying on the ground, leg draped over the chair, and a white manjuu bouncing on his head.

"Is Fai alright?" Syaoran asked, turning around from the stove.

There was food on his face. Kurogane smirked; the food had blown up, if only slightly. Mokona bounced on Kurogane's head one more time before flying over to Syaoran's side, leaving Kurogane to get up.

"Fai had a nightmare, and fell out of bed" Mokona explained.

Kurogane rolled his eyes, still not having moved from the floor. He should've known it would be a nightmare. And he had a feeling he knew whom it was about.

The need the make sure the mage was alright tugged at him, and in protest he decided he was going to stay on the floor.

"Doesn't Kuro-chii want to get up?" Mokona teased.

"Shut up" Kurogane snapped folding his arms.

Sakura stuck her head through the opening of the door. "Can-"She stopped short, looking in wonder from Syaoran to Kurogane.

It must've been quite a sight, seeing as how Kurogane was lying on a toppled over chair, and Syaoran was standing in front of the stove, remnants of whatever was cooking plastered to his face.

"What?" Kurogane grunted.

Sakura looked startled. "I, uh, can you go make sure Fai's okay Kurogane?" She stammered.

Kurogane rolled his eyes and awkwardly stood up. "Syaoran are you ok?" Sakura asked hurriedly, rushing over to help the kid.

Kurogane also had a feeling it was so she wouldn't have to deal with his irritable wrath as he left the room.

He stomped up the stairs, making sure that they knew he wasn't happy. Great, now he was acting like a child.

He opened the door to Fai's room slowly, bracing himself for the nicknames.

When none came, he was relieved, but also a bit worried. It was unlike Fai to be this silent.

He looked at the mage closely. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the wall. His was flushed feverishly, his expression was that of fear; not the 'jumping out and saying boo' thing, it was more of a 'Visiting a place I've always feared' expression. His eye reflected his expression, but they were distant to, almost like he wasn't really there. His blond hair was a mess; it wasn't tied into its usual ponytail and hung loose, casting a semi-dramatic shadow over his face.

Kurogane walked into the room, his foot-steps still had a semi-irritated sound to them.

"Is the wall really that interesting?" Kurogane asked gruffly.

No response from the mage.

Kurogane raised an eyebrow in surprise.

It was unlike him to not say anything.

Although, his eyes still had that distance look to them, almost like he was…."Mage!" Kurogane snapped, wanting to get this over with.

Still no response. Kurogane crossed his arms, debating about the possibilities.

Eventually he decided on which course of action he would take. He raised his fist and brought it down upon the mage's head.

Now, don't fret, he didn't hit him _that_ hard, only hard enough that he knew the mage would feel it, and that he could take a bit of stress out upon him.

Fai blinked and recoiled in surprise.

"Kuro-pyon" Fai gasped, holding his head.

"The hell's wrong with you?" Kurogane asked.

"What'd'ya mean, Kuro-chii?" Fai grinned.

"Well, aside from the fact you didn't respond when I was talking to you, you haven't said anything since I walked in" Kurogane stated.

"Was Kuro-wan worried?" Fai taunted, plastering a fake smile over his face.

"You know that smile doesn't fool me, what are you hiding today." Kurogane tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the magician to snap.

Fai clasped his hands together and began staring at them intently, as if he was waiting for them to start talking and explain.

"I thought I was there again" he murmured softly. "

Where?" Kurogane asked, a little perturbed by Fai's seriousness, normally these moments only last around a minute.

"There" Fai repeated, as if he expected to instantly know where he was talking about.

"Mage, I have no idea where 'there' is" Kurogane snapped.

"There" he said again, adding a certain tone that Kurogane had a fairly good idea where he was talking about. That stupid pit his family had stuck him and his brother in.

"Why would you think you were back there?" Kurogane asked.

Fai shrugged. "I dunno, but it was so real, like I was" Fai stopped, hanging his head.

Kurogane didn't expect him to say more, he had said to much.

"Better question" Kurogane said, seating himself next to Fai. "Why would you think that we'd let you go back there?" Fai shrugged again, but looked up after he fully comprehended what the ninja had just said.

"We?" he asked.

"There is not a chance in hell any of us would force you to go back there, and, if for some odd reason, you were there, Mokona and the kids would never leave me alone until I saved your sorry ass" Kurogane explained, before quietly adding: "Again."

"Thanks, Kuro-myu" Fai said, somewhat relieved by that. He was still shaken by what he had seen. It had looked so…real. Almost like he was back there, but, at the same time, Kurogane's words, gruff as they were, were reassuring.

"Shut up" The ninja snapped, embarrassed by his sudden display of kindness.

Kurogane stood up. "I'm going to go make sure the kitchen hasn't exploded" he said, heading for the door.

"What?" Fai asked.

Kurogane turned around, "Syaoran was cooking" he explained.

Fai chuckled, "Can I see?"

"No, you need sleep, I can handle it."

"Aww, Kuro-daddy cares" Fai said sleepily.

"Tch." Kurogane grunted before he left the room.

Kurogane was bombarded with questions the moment he got off the stairs.

"Is Fai-mommy ok?!"

"Are you hungry"

"What happened?"

Ok, maybe not so much bombarded as asked at the same time.

"The bastard was seeing things" was all Kurogane offered. "Now, if you'll excuse, I'm going to bed."

"Kuro-pon is tired, Kuro-pon is tired" Mokona sang. Her voice echoing throughout the house as the tired ninja made his way to his room.

Mokona continued singing until she heard the muffled screaming off: "IF YOU DON'T SHUT THE HELL UP I WILL PERSONALLY RIP YOU TO SHREADS!"

* * *

**I dunno, was that a little OOC? Maybe it was, but oh well. I'm going crazy. I was re-reading an old part, and instead of reading: "None of your annoying attitude" I read: "None of your manly sass."**

**Hah, I am such a moment killer, I bet you thought something was going to happen right away, but somehow, I liked it this way better.**

**R&R, and farewell, for now (Manical laughter as I run off into the distance)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Yay, new update. It's been like a week, and I feel sad that I didn't update sooner. Well, I suppose the fact that I was thinking about updating, I just wasn't home counts. Garg, I'm 14, I don't wanna be 14, the little kids already call me a big kid, and now I'm a bigger kid. Oh well, my maturity hasn't changed much.**

* * *

Kurogane rubbed his eyes tiredly. He hadn't gotten much sleep the past few nights because of the mage's nightmares and the fact that he woke up every half-hour or so to throw up. That and the fact there was a bird nesting right outside his window, and it only seemed to chirp when he was trying to get some sleep.

Of course he blamed the first more than the latter. The past few nights had consisted of taking care of the mage, swearing at the bird, and making sure the kids were safe. Also, in immense boredom that comes from being unable to sleep, he had made a chart (mentally of course) of how much sleep everyone was getting every night. So far, it looked like this:

Syaoran: ten hours

Sakura: eleven hours

Mokona: eleven

Fai: four hours

Him: two hours

So, as you can see, he was very tired, and the fact that he was searching for the feather with the kid and Mokona didn't help matters.

And besides, the mountain was more like a hill, with rabbits.

Of all things, why'd it have to be a rabbit? He had some bad memories of rabbits of a child.

"Well, no luck today" Syaoran sighed dejectedly.

"No! It's alright Syaoran! Mokona will find it" Mokona cried in a desperate attempt at cheering him up.

Kurogane sighed, another day without finding anything, another day stuck walking with the manjuu.

"Look at the view" Mokona said, nodding down the mountain/hill thing. "Woah" Syaoran breathed. Kurogane turned to follow the kid's gaze. It was, in truth, beautiful, there was a clear view of the expansive horizon below and then sun that was starting to set cast warm colors and shadows across the sky and the world below.

"Sakura would love this" Syaoran commented.

Fai would too, Kurogane added mentally. He raised a hand to slap himself, but lowered it and slapped and kicked himself mentally.

"Mokona thinks we should have a picnic!" Mokona cried. Syaoran nodded cheerfully.

"How 'bout no" Kurogane snapped.

Mokona pouted. "It would make Fai feel better." Kurogane crossed his arms.

"Tch. In case you haven't noticed, the damn mage throws up when he's not eating; food's not going to help."

Mokona and Syaoran looked at him strangely. That was probably the most considerate thing he'd ever said about the mage.

Kurogane rolled his eyes and turned back to the cabin.

"Wait up Kuro-daddy" Mokona cried. Kurogane picked up his pace slightly.

"Kuro-wanko" Mokona moaned loudly.

"Kurogane, please wait up!" Syaoran called, most likely so Mokona would be quiet for a little bit.

Kurogane slowed his pace, only slightly, so the kid could catch up.

Kurogane yawned.

"Are you okay?" Syaoran asked.

"Do I look okay?!" He snapped. He felt guilty after seeing Syaoran shrink in fear.

"N-not really" he stammered. "You look tired."

"I am" he sighed. "Stupid mage" He muttered.

"What did Fai do?" Syaoran asked.

"He keeps waking up in the middle of the night and walking around, it gets so damn annoying. And besides, if he's so sick he shouldn't be walking around, it makes him more annoying during the day" Kurogane complained, his finger's twitching at the thought.

"Kuro-puppy is just worried for Fai-kitty" Mokona chirped, perching herself on Syaoran's shoulder.

"Tch. And I'm not a dog!" Kurogane snapped.

"Kuro-woofy never disagreed to being worried" Mokona sang.

"I did too" Kurogane argued.

"'Tch' does not mean no" Mokona stated, imitating Kurogane's grunt to the fullest of its abilities.

"Bastard, I'll kill you" Kurogane grumbled, just loud enough so Mokona could hear.

"Oh, Kuro-daddy's getting defensive" Mokona said, giggling slightly.

Syaoran walked awkwardly between the two, unsure of what to do. Kurogane would've felt sorry for the kid having to bear with this argument if he wasn't so pissed off.

"Am not" he protested, attempting to place a calm face on. It morphed into more of a constipated face.

Mokona giggled and before she could say anything Kurogane just settled with his irritated expression.

"Are too" Mokona said.

"Am not"

"Are too"

"Am not"

"Are too"

"Are not"

"Bad grammar Kuro-pon."

"Damn you."

Mokona opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by Syaoran. "We're at the cottage."

Kurogane muttered something that sounded like "Thank God."

Unfortunately, he said it to loud, Mokona heard.

"Kuro-pon's happy to be seeing Fai-mommy again" Mokona chanted.

"No" he scoffed. "I'm just glad to get away from you!" "Wahh!" Mokona wailed.

"Kuro-woofy's being mean!" "If you would shut up" Kurogane snapped. Mokona wailed louder. Kurogane sighed and opened the door to the cabin.

* * *

Fai stirred groggily at the sudden noise of Kurogane yelling. He groaned slightly.

His head hurt, and he was hot and cold at the same time. To top it off, he felt the empty feeling that came from throwing up. He felt like crap, but he wasn't going to let anyone else catch on, although Kurogane probably would.

Fai didn't move from the couch he was lying on.

"Kuro-woofy's home!" Fai cried out in joy, waiting anxiously for the ninja's reaction.

"I AM NOT YOUR DAMN DOG!" he screamed.

Fai chuckled slightly, then grimaced, that hurt his throat.

"My, my" Fai said, rolling onto his stomach and peering around the couch's armrest. "Kuro-pyon is in a foul mood."

Kurogane walked into Fai's line of sight. "Any luck?" Fai asked calmly.

Kurogane shook his head. "Well Kuro-chii will find it!" Fai cheered. Kurogane furrowed his brow in anger.

Fai chuckled, and then cringed, remembering that it hurt.

"Tch" Kurogane grunted before seating himself in an armchair.

Fai had originally made fun of Kurogane to keep him away, to keep him from getting hurt. That plan backfired, and Kurogane saw through it. He gave up so much, just to keep Fai alive, and that puzzled him.

Why would he do so much to keep someone who had given up on living alive?

Someone that was the type of person he hated.

Kurogane was like a puzzle to him, he showed his emotions, but he hid them too, he hid the feelings he deemed weak, and showed whatever was left.

Fai was a puzzle too, except Kurogane's was easier; once you had a few pieces you could figure it out.

He blinked in surprise as he felt a cool hand against his forehead. "You should be in bed" Kurogane commented.

"Kuro-poo is so caring" Fai gushed, rolling back onto his stomach.

Syaoran's eager voice carried from the kitchen. He was discussing something with Sakura.

"What are the kids talking about?" Fai asked, staring up at the ninja's face.

He looked tired, and Fai felt guilty about that. He knew it was partially his fault.

Kurogane shrugged, either because he didn't feel like talking, or because he didn't know.

Fai couldn't see, but he was fairly certain Syaoran had walked into the room.

"Kurogane, is it alright if I take Sakura and see if we can catch the last of the sunset?" Syaoran asked.

Kurogane glanced down at Fai, who nodded, saying it was okay.

Kurogane shrugged, "Alright, but get back before it gets dark."

"Thanks" Sakura's voice said.

There was the loud banging of two hurried teens shoving on their cloaks and boots before the door slammed shut.

"So it's just me and daddy, huh?" Fai teased.

Kurogane managed to cover a twitch before wandering to the kitchen, looking for the bottle of sake.

Fai grinned. This could be fun.

* * *

**I'll make up for the lack of Fai in the next chapter! I've coming to the stunning ralization of how badly Fai get's treated in fanfics, I mean sure, normally he ends up happy, but a lot of the time he's either pregnent, abused in some way, or just angsty.**

**I feel like I should inform you, this fic'll be done soon. I plan on ending it around chapter ten, but don't worry, I have about seven new fic ideas. All KuroXFai.**

**The eternally bored - YourAverageObsessiveGirl.**


	9. Chapter 9

Ok, new update, simple as that. Nothing new to say, except I've reached a new level of insanity. I named a pepsi can Bob, lost it, got another, and then named it Steve. Now read.

* * *

Kurogane poured himself a glass of the alcohol and took a long sip. He figured that if he was stuck with the mage for a while he was going to need it.

He blinked in surprise as the liquid went down his throat. It was stronger than he thought it would be.

He heard footsteps behind him. He took another sip before turning around.

It didn't surprise him to see it was Fai. There was the obvious reason they were the only ones there, and Kurogane would've been a terrible ninja otherwise.

Fai stood in the doorway, one hand resting against the doorjamb.

"You shouldn't be up" Kurogane pointed out; placing the alcohol just above any area the kids could reach. It's not like he had an issue with alcohol, no, the stuff was fine. But, if the kid, the princess, the manjuu, or the mage got involved, it instantly got ugly for the ninja.

"I'm fine Kuro-chii" Fai protested, seating himself comfortably at the table.

"Tch, like I'd believe that. And it's Kurogane" He snapped.

"But Kuro-wanko is so much cuter" Fai stated, as if it was as simple as that, not as complex as Kurogane's manly pride.

Ok, well, maybe not _that_ complex.

"You're a real pain in the ass, y'know that" Kurogane complained as he handed Fai the medicine.

Fai promptly swallowed it, grinning cheekily. Kurogane rolled his eyes.

"Thirsty?" Kurogane asked gruffly.

"Nope." Fai shook his head slightly.

"Liar" Kurogane hissed, but he didn't press the matter further, instead, he busied himself with making rice.

Fai looked at the ninja with surprise.

"What?" Kurogane snapped his back still to the mage.

"N-nothing, Kuro-sama" Fai stammered, mainly because he was at a loss of how to word the question. Normally Kurogane would've pestered him until he drank; it was odd for him not to do anything.

Kurogane grunted and started boiling the water.

"Kuro-sweet can cook?" Fai asked sweetly.

"Hn" Kurogane grunted, rolling his eyes. Of course he could cook; it just wasn't a skill he flaunted.

"Kuro-woof can cook" Fai sang.

"Shut it" Kurogane commanded crankily.

Fai and Kurogane sneezed in unison.

"Someone must be talking about us" Fai said teasingly.

Kurogane shuddered at the thought of being mentioned in the same sentence as the mage.

"Or I just caught your damn cold" he suggested, a tone in his voice hinting that he would prefer that option.

Kurogane finished making the rice with little pestering on Fai's part. He sat down at the table, ignoring Fai watchful gaze.

"Can I have some" Fai asked.

"Why?" Kurogane asked. There really was no point if he was going to throw it up after.

"I want to see how yummy Kuro-pon's cooking tastes" Fai explained, smiling innocently.

"No" Kurogane rolled his eyes and chewed on the rice slowly. He didn't do it to taunt the mage, although Fai seemingly thought so.

His face fell into a pout and his eye grew wide.

Kurogane narrowed his eyes into slits before turning to face the rice. There was no way he was letting the 'look' outwit him again.

"Kuro-sama" Fai whined. Kurogane grunted in response.

"Pleease?" Fai begged, his voice rising in pitch.

Kurogane gripped the chopsticks (Silently thanking Sakura for buying them, forks and spoons were too much for him) tighter.

"No" He said, forcing the words out.

"Pretty please?" Fai pestered. "With a cherry on top" he continued.

Kurogane did his best to shut the mage out as he continued on his long list of begging words.

Kurogane's left eye began to twitch with growing ferocity.

After Fai's last attempt had used the word pretty twenty times, he had simply resorted to shoving a handful of rice into his mouth.

Fai jaw dropped with surprise for a moment, allowing a few grains of rice to dribble down his chin.

He quickly resumed his composure and swallowed it. "Kuro-pon's cooking is really good" Fai complemented, oblivious to the grains of rice still on his chin.

Kurogane looked up and noticed this. He fought back a smile, but it was only because the mage was looking like more of an idiot than usual, not because he looked somewhat cute.

Kurogane grunted in response before quickly finishing what was left of his rice. He dropped the bowl in the sink before leaving the kitchen.

Kurogane busied himself with attempting to do the laundry, which led to an event of kicking the piece of machinery madly.

It surprised him that Fai wasn't saying anything about the loud banging, but he ignored it. It was a brighter side that Fai wasn't saying anything; it gave him some time to take out stress without gaining more.

_BANG! _Kurogane cringed.

Damn it, he dented it.

This one he wasn't going to be able to cover up.

He paused, expecting Fai's voice to carry from the kitchen saying something that would no doubt piss him off.

Silence.

"Eerie" he murmured.

He turned away from the machine, uttering a foul word before turning towards the kitchen.

No, he was not going to check on the mage because he was concerned, he was going because…well, he didn't know for himself, but there was no chance it was because he was concerned.

He found Fai sleeping peacefully, his head cradled in his arms on the table.

He scoffed quietly.

Fai shifted slightly in his sleep.

A small smile played on the corner of his lips. He gently scooped the mage up in his arms.

Although he was only being gentle so he wouldn't wake up and be more of a pain.

Right?

He stared down at Fai's sleeping face. He looked peaceful, and only slightly sick.

Kurogane figured he looked sicker when he tried to hide how sick he was, if that made any sense.

Fai snuggled closer, a tiny smile gracing his features.

"Pain in the ass" he murmured.

He carried Fai up the stairs and to his room bridal style.

He nudged open the door, trying to be as silent as possible. Kurogane made his way to the bed without making the floorboards creek.

He filled with relief when he realized his ninja skills weren't completely down the drain.

He placed the mage down on the bed with extreme care.

At the moment, the mage waking up would result on horror from him.

He chuckled softtly as he noticed the grains of rice still stuck to Fai's chin.

He gently brushed them off.

For a moment Kurogane decided to lock his pride away in the safe, the ninja swiftly bent down and kissed the mage's forehead.

He pulled away, blushing.

What the hell was he doing?!

He reached his hand up and slapped himself. He left the room, still mentally slapping himself after his actual slap.

Kurogane stomped down the stairs, ashamed at his show of affection, even if the mage wasn't awake to notice.

"Kurogane?" Syaoran asked. He had just walked in, Sakura in tow, and was somewhat surprised to see Kurogane's face bright red.

Kurogane flung his cloak over his shoulder. "I'm going for a walk."

"O-ok then" Syaoran stammered as Kurogane stormed past them.

The door slammed and Kurogane walked around the cottage aimlessly.

He had some thinking to do, and he'd be damned if he didn't get it done.

He didn't love the mage, right?

* * *

**There we go, this chapter is done, and there's only one left :'(. **

**I realized that there is a sort of depression when it comes to finishing fanfictions. I only know because Suzuki Yumi (My good ol' Naruto buddy) is going through it too. Oh well, I'll probably update soon, seeing as how all the stuff I used to do after school finished.**

**All right, hope you enjoyed it. R&R, and, go read more KuroXFai, take it from someone who wakes up early just to read it before school, it makes the day brighter. Bye!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Alright, here it is, the dreaded last chapter. Just a warning, I almost choked on the flangst writing this..well, somewhat flangst. So, I hope you don't. Choking on flangst is an odd expeirience. Well, enjoy it.**

* * *

He didn't love the mage, he didn't love the mage, he didn't love the mage, he loved the mage…damn it.

Kurogane sighed in exasperation.

If he _was_ (Was bring the key word) in love with the mage, it would explain his desire to punch him whenever he did something that was life-threatening.

But, that could also be explained by his lack of tolerance for idiots. Actually, almost everything could be explained by that.

Everything that is, except for the kiss on the forehead.

He slumped back against a tree. Normally he was so sure of his feelings, so sure of what he wanted, but now, he wasn't so sure.

Kurogane ran his hand through his black hair thoughtfully.

It's not like he had a problem with being in love, but this was the mage, the person whom had single-handedly managed to destroy a fair amount of the ninja's pride.

He could come to terms with the obvious, or he could go down fighting until he had no choice but to accept it. He considered the latter, but seeing as how close he was to the accepting point already, the first would be more reasonable.

He straightened himself up and massaged his temples.

Alright, so he maybe loved the mage, but there was no chance in hell he was going to admit it unless he had too.

  

Fai shot up from the bed.

He was shaking, although he wasn't sure why. Maybe it had something to do with a nightmare, but he couldn't quite remember what he was dreaming about.

Fai felt something cold and wet slide down his cheek. He reached up with his slender hand and touched his cheek. It was damp.

Had he been crying, and, more importantly, how was he in his room?

A name ran through his mind, Kurogane.

After an involuntary sob racked his body, he went back to trying to remember his dream.

He drew a blank, although, he figured it must have been quite terrifying, seeing as how he was crying and shaking.

"Well, there's no way I'm going to be able to fall back asleep" he said quietly to himself.

Fai climbed out of the bed, stood for a moment so he could catch his balance, and headed out the room.

He knew that if he visited Sakura or Syaoran they would be more than comforting, but, for some odd reason, they weren't the person he wanted to see.

He walked down the stairs, leaning on the wall for support. He stood in front of the door to the ninja's room for a moment, contemplating on what to say.

If he said something like "I'm scared" the ninja was no doubt going to scoff at his un-manly ways.

Fai sighed and turned the door-knob. "Kuro-poo?" He asked.

No response.

Oh well, he thought, maybe he's asleep.

He opened the door a little more and was surprised to see that Kurogane wasn't even there.

Fai frowned as another tear ran down his cheek. He still wished he could remember why he was so sad.

All he could really remember of the dream was being incredible scared, and then sad, like something had ripped his heart out.

He walked over to Kurogane's bed and flopped down upon it, sobbing occasionally on the pillow.

 

The door opened with a slow creak as Kurogane entered their temporary home.

He sighed happily as a gust of warm air hit him. It was chilly outside.

Kurogane kicked off his shoes, draped his cloak over the couch, and wandered over towards his room, silently bracing himself for the bird's chirping.

He opened the door slowly.

Only one question raced through the ninja's mind when he saw the lump on his bed.

"Now just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

The lump stirred slightly. "Kuro-myuu?" The voice asked.

Kurogane sighed. Great, he spent the majority of the evening thinking about the blond, and now, he gets back, hoping to go to sleep and there he is.

"What. Do. You. Think. You're. Doing?" Kurogane asked again, forcing irritation in his voice.

"I had a nightmare" Fai's muffled voice replied.

"And the first thing you do is come to my room?" Kurogane asked skeptically.

"Yeah" Fai responded, his voice cracking slightly.

Kurogane blinked in surprise. "Mage, are you crying?" He asked.

"Ha, Kuro-pon cares" Fai chuckled weakly.

"That doesn't answer my question" Kurogane said, sounding angrier then he intended to.

No matter if he loved him or not, he still got pissed off when he tried to lie or change topics.

"If I say yes, will you leave it alone?" Fai asked, his voice cracking again. He sounded tired.

"Move over" Kurogane grunted, deciding that it was too late to argue with the mage.

It took Fai a moment to realize what Kurogane had said, but he complied. Fai rolled closer to wall, but turned so his back was facing it, not Kurogane.

Kurogane lay down next to the mage, pulling the blankets over him.

_Well_, Kurogane thought, _this is awkward_.

Another quite sob shook through Fai.

Kurogane rolled his eyes as he reached out and pulled the mage into some sort of a hug.

He managed to get the arm he was lying on loose, and use it to gently press Fai head to his chest.

His other arm was used to pull the man's skinny figure into the embrace. Kurogane felt his face turning red.

"Kuro-chii" Fai whispered in shock.

"It was just a bad dream, don't worry about it" Kurogane soothed. He attempted to put a bit of gruffness behind it, which is something very hard to do.

Fai broke down and sobbed a little harder.

Kurogane was amazed. Fai never let his guard down so easily.

Although, he could see why once the mage started it would be hard to stop; Fai had never once cried in front of any of them, or at all, he had held it, so, once it got started, it would take a while to stop.

Kurogane had nothing against crying, although this entire situation was embarrassing him to no end.

Kurogane reached one arm up and began stroking the back of the mage's blonde head soothingly.

"Shhh…" Kurogane murmured, "Breathe."

Fai, who had seemingly regained enough composure to do something besides cry quietly, wrapped his arms around Kurogane, pulling himself tighter against the ninja.

"Don't leave, Kuro-pyon" He mumbled into Kurogane's chest.

"Wasn't planning to," he responded, "And its Kurogane."

Fai managed a small chuckle.

Kurogane was relived that Fai still had the capacity to laugh in the face of his gruffness.

Kurogane waited until Fai's sobbing had mostly subsided before asking the dreaded question.

"What exactly happened?" Kurogane asked, releasing his hold on the mage.

Fai pulled away slightly, shaking his head. "I don't know" he replied sadly.

Kurogane frowned thoughtfully. "Well" he began, "Maybe that's a good thing."

Fai raised an eyebrow.

"You'd be a lot more annoying if you remember what happened" Kurogane said.

Fai grinned slightly, although his golden eye looked hurt.

Kurogane cringed. Crap, again with the hurting his feelings.

"Sorry" he muttered.

"Did you just say sorry?" Fai asked, sounding incredulous.

"Shut it" Kurogane muttered gruffly.

Fai grinned through the remnants of tears on his face and hugged the ninja. "Yay! Kuro-chii apologized." Fai said cheerfully.

"It's Kurogane dumbass" He snapped.

Kurogane found himself hugging Fai back as he was about to pull away. He expected Fai to make some odd, awkward moment stimulating comment, but none came.

 

Fai was too stunned to say anything. Kurogane had hugged him.

The first time didn't count; Fai assumed that it was just so he would shut up.

But this time, there really wasn't a Kurogane-ish reason he could find.

So, he gave up and let the ninja hug him.

Fai wasn't sure why, but he always felt safer and more relaxed around Kurogane, as though he could trust him through anything.

This scared him, but he supposed there was no helping it.

Kurogane wouldn't let any of his attempts to push him away work.

Fai was struck by the sudden desire to do something that would, almost definitely, infuriate the ninja, but he was going to try it anyway.

"Kuro-woofy?" Fai asked, peering up at his face.

His eyes were shut but he was still awake.

Kurogane grunted in response.

"Can I try something?" Fai asked meekly, feeling a little awkward about it.

Kurogane grunted again, too exhausted to say more.

Fai, taking this for a yes, craned his body upwards, closer to the ninja's face.

 

Kurogane's eyes shot open in surprise as he felt Fai's cool lips press against his. After he had gotten over the initial shock of being kissed, he kissed back.

He felt something foreign exploring his mouth. And, oddly enough, had no complaints about it.

Fai pulled away, looking down. "Sorry" he said.

Kurogane chuckled. "No need to be sorry" He said, pulling the mage back into a hug.

"Go to sleep" he added.

Kurogane had a sinking suspicion his pride was going to come and kick his ass tomorrow, but, for now, he didn't care.

Fai looked up at him sharply. "You need sleep too" He pointed out.

Kurogane bent his neck forward and delicately kissed the mage's warm forehead. He drew back sharply.

"What?" Fai asked, sounding somewhat disappointed.

Kurogane chuckled slightly before pulling the mage against him tightly again.

"You smell like vomit."

**The End**

* * *

**Well, there we go. It's finally done. (Sniffle) Ah, my tummy hurts. Was it to flangsty? I hope not, cause I choke on normal fluff a lot too, adding angst to the mix was like wetting cotton balls and swallowing them.**

**(Sniffles again) I'll miss you guys! (Hugs every reader) Keep an eye out in the Anime X-Overs, a cross-over fic of mine will be up in a few weeks, and there is KuroXFai..heh.**

**Well, R&R, Bye!**


	11. Epilouge

**Ok, this is just how they found the feather and such, not much KuroXFai stuff in here, just summing up the end to this.**

* * *

"Where's Fai?" Sakura asked, running into Syaoran's room without knocking.

The male brunette rolled off the bed in surprise.

"I dunno" he mumbled from the floor. "Is he in his room?"

Sakura shook her head, "no."

Syaoran sat himself on the edge of the bed, trying to remember anything that happened last night that would give a clue to Fai's whereabouts.

He frowned; he remembered footsteps going down the stairs.

"Have you checked downstairs?" He inquired.

Sakura's eyes went wide as she shook her head. She ran out the door, leaving a puzzled Syaoran on the bed.

Syaoran was considering taking his time when he heard a loud thump from the stairs.

"Princess Sakura?!" He called, rushing out of the room.

He had just stepped out of the doorway when his head made contact with something somewhat squishy and furry.

"Morning Mokona" Syaoran said.

Mokona nodded cheerfully.

Syaoran returned to the problem at hand. "Princess, are you alright?" he asked.

"Fine, just fine" Sakura called, "I tripped."

Syaoran smiled slightly before heading down the stairs.

The teens did a full search of the house, except for Kurogane's room.

"This is the only room left" Syaoran said slowly, wondering why Fai would even go in there in the first place.

Sakura nodded and slowly opened the door.

They peered inside, Syaoran stood on his tip-toes so he could see over Sakura.

"Mommy and Daddy" Mokona cooed quietly.

They couldn't see much because Kurogane was sleeping on his side, but, they could see Fai's slender arms wrapped around the ninja's body.

"Let them sleep?" Syaoran asked, terribly afraid of what Kurogane would do when he awoke.

Sakura nodded, "Yes."

They slowly closed the door and made breakfast.

Syaoran and Sakura decided that they would go feather hunting today, and let their older companions sleep.

It took them seven hours, but, eventually they stumbled across the said pond, literally.

"Mokona can feel the feather really close by" Mokona chirped.

Syaoran turned on his heel so he could walk backwards and talk to Mokona. Syaoran slipped and fell into something wet.

He swam back onto the surface, grinning slowly to prove that he was okay.

Sakura gasped, "Syaoran, look, the ground."

yaoran treaded the water slowly taking in the surroundings.

He had fallen into a pond, but the pond was covered in so much moss it looked like the grass surrounding it.

"No wonder it was hard to find" Syaoran muttered.

"The feather's in there" Mokona exclaimed

. "You sure?" Sakura asked.

"Mokona is positive" Mokona replied.

Syaoran inhaled deeply and dove back under. The water was an odd green color and hust Syaoran's eyes.

He would've been completely blind if it weren't for the glowing light of the feather.

Syaoran grabbed it quickly, his breath running out, and swam towards the surface.

He burst out of the water gasping.

Sakura pulled him onto dry ground, looking worried.

"I'm fine" he panted, pulling a piece of moss out of his air.

Sakura looked relived.

"Do we leave right away, or do we stick around" she asked, looking at her companions slowly.

"Why don't we stay for another sunset" Syaoran said, before returning the feather to Sakura.

Syaoran grabbed her as he collapsed and quickly started back towards the cabin.

"If Kurogane and Fai are still asleep, Mokona, you're waking them up" Syaoran said, fearing for his life.

* * *

**Yeah, it sucked, but, some people..okay one person, asked about the feather. So, I felt the need to explain..not in great detail or anything. There you go. Ad now I'm done. :( Ahhh, I'm done. Alas, I will go plan out my next KuroXFai fic. **

**Fare thee well!**


End file.
